states Archives - Mediarabe

Trump, Pressured Over Pandemic, Says States Will Receive 150 Million Tests | Top News

September 29, 2020

By Steve Holland and Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump, under fire over his handling of the coronavirus epidemic, announced on Monday the federal government would ship 150 million rapid tests to U.S. states and warned an increase in positive cases is likely in the days ahead.

Trump, at a Rose Garden event, said the tests would largely be used for opening schools and ensuring safety at centers for senior citizens. He has been pressuring state governors to do more to open schools for in-person learning.

Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and virus adviser Scott Atlas warned more positive cases may result from stepped up testing.

“With cases and positivity rising in 10 states in the Midwest and the near-West, and with this historic advance in testing that’s being distributed … the American people should anticipate that cases will rise in the days ahead,” Pence said.

The president

Trump admin begins shipping rapid coronavirus tests to states

September 28, 2020

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The first shipments, totaling 6.5 million tests, will be sent this week, and the amount each state receives will be based on population data. Although governors will be in charge of deciding how to use the rapid tests they receive, Trump and HHS testing czar Brett Giroir encouraged state leaders to deploy the tests to help reopen schools.

HHS already has sent a few million of the Abbott antigen tests to nursing homes and assisted living facilities, historically black colleges and universities, and areas damaged recently by wildfires and hurricanes.

Background: More than 7.1 million people in the U.S. have been infected with the coronavirus and more than 204,000 have died, according to data curated by Johns Hopkins University. The country is still tallying more than 40,000 new daily cases, and hospitalizations rose in the past week driven in part by spikes in North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, according

New York’s positive COVID-19 test rate inches up as cases climb in other states

September 28, 2020

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By Gabriella Borter and Lisa Shumaker

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The percentage of COVID-19 tests taken in New York state that have come back positive has inched up to 1.5%, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday, a worrisome trend for the former epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus epidemic.

New York’s positivity rate had hovered around 1% for weeks, a hard-won metric after the state tallied thousands of cases per day during the peak of its outbreak in the spring. The rate’s uptick now comes as 27 other states recorded increases in the number of cases for two straight weeks.

“It’s basically Brooklyn, Orange and Rockland that are increasing this number,” Cuomo told reporters on Monday, adding that state health officials were looking into COVID-19 clusters in these locations. He said health officials were still trying to find a reason for the rise in those areas, all of them in the

Only 10 states are seeing downward trends in new Covid-19 cases, and NYC now has a surge

September 28, 2020

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a group of people in a field: People fill Sheep Meadow in Central Park as the city continues Phase 4 of re-opening following restrictions imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus on September 26, 2020 in New York City. The fourth phase allows outdoor arts and entertainment, sporting events without fans and media production. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images)

© Noam Galai/Getty Images
People fill Sheep Meadow in Central Park as the city continues Phase 4 of re-opening following restrictions imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus on September 26, 2020 in New York City. The fourth phase allows outdoor arts and entertainment, sporting events without fans and media production. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images)

In this uphill battle against Covid-19, letting your foot off the gas too soon can send you backward.

That’s what places like New York City are discovering after months of steady progress in fighting the pandemic.

And this is a very bad time to be going backward, as Americans face a trio of major challenges this fall: more indoor gatherings, a potential coronavirus-and-flu “twin-demic,” and trying to get or keep students back in school safely.

Nationwide, 21 states reported more new cases this past week compared to the previous week, according to data

Poll: Voters in battleground states favor Biden on health care issues, including coronavirus response

September 28, 2020

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The coronavirus pandemic, health-care costs, and insurance protections for preexisting conditions are top health-care concerns for voters in battleground states — and ones they believe Vice President Joe Biden is more likely to address, according to a new survey by the Commonwealth Fund.

A majority of voters in nine of 10 battleground states said Biden is the more likely of the two candidates to address both COVID-19 and its economic costs, according to the Commonwealth Fund’s website.

Health care is consistently a top concern for voters and has become an even more pressing issue for many during the pandemic. Thousands of people lost their employer-sponsored health plans due to a layoff, while others may be struggling to cover routine health costs, such as premiums and co-pays, when money is tight. What’s more, the high cost of a COVID-19 hospital stay, which could run tens of thousands of dollars for people

Only 10 states are seeing downward trends in new cases

September 28, 2020

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In this uphill battle against Covid-19, letting your foot off the gas too soon can send you backward.

a group of people in a field: People fill Sheep Meadow in Central Park as the city continues Phase 4 of re-opening following restrictions imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus on September 26, 2020 in New York City. The fourth phase allows outdoor arts and entertainment, sporting events without fans and media production. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images)

© Noam Galai/Getty Images
People fill Sheep Meadow in Central Park as the city continues Phase 4 of re-opening following restrictions imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus on September 26, 2020 in New York City. The fourth phase allows outdoor arts and entertainment, sporting events without fans and media production. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images)

That’s what places like New York City are discovering after months of steady progress in fighting the pandemic.

And this is a very bad time to be going backward, as Americans face a trio of major challenges this fall: more indoor gatherings, a potential coronavirus-and-flu “twin-demic,” and trying to get or keep students back in school safely.

Nationwide, 21 states reported more new cases this past week compared to the previous week, according to data

More than 20 states report coronavirus spikes as experts warn of fall, winter surge

September 28, 2020

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New coronavirus cases increased over the past week by at least 10 percent, predominantly in 21 Western states, according to a CNN analysis.

Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington state, Wisconsin and Wyoming have all seen increases in the virus, the analysis found, based on data from Johns Hopkins University.

In the meantime, only 11 states saw new cases fall more than 10 percent compared to the week before: Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia. The remaining 18 states saw level infection rates.

The news comes as public health experts have expressed concerns over a new fall and winter wave of the virus as colder temperatures cause Americans to spend more time indoors. A “huge surge” is likely as the end of the

News from around our 50 states

September 28, 2020

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Alabama

Auburn: White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx met with Gov. Kay Ivey on Thursday and praised her for issuing a statewide mask mandate. Birx said she believes the order, which is set to expire Oct. 2, should be extended. “Within two weeks of the mask mandate, you can see the dramatic decline in cases here in Alabama,” Birx said. She said it is important for people to maintain their mitigation efforts in the fall. As Birx urged the extension of the mask order, a new lawsuit was filed challenging it. Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore on Thursday announced a new federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the mask mandate and past state health orders that closed businesses or directed people to stay home. The lawsuit was filed by Moore’s Foundation for Moral Law on behalf of seven plaintiffs.

Alaska

Juneau: Alaska Native corporations are not eligible

Some Midwestern states have more than 25% COVID-19 positive test rates: report

September 28, 2020

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The race for a coronavirus vaccine

Dr. Nicole Saphier, author of ‘Make America Healthy Again;’ Dr. Dyan Hes, pediatrician; and Dr. Kathleen Berchelmann, pediatrician, join ‘Fox and Friends.’

More than 25% of COVID-19 tests came back positive in some Midwestern states last week as the region experiences an increase in infections and hospitalizations, according to a report on Sunday.

Over the past seven days, North Dakota’s positive test rate has averaged 30%, which was up 24% from last week. South Dakota has seen 26% of its tests coming back positive, an increase of 9% percent from the previous week, according to an analysis by Reuters that used testing data from The COVID Tracking Project.

Meanwhile, more than 27% of COVID-19 tests received by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services on Sunday were positive in the previous 24 hours, FOX 9 reported.

“[The] World Health Organization [in May] advised governments that

Positive COVID-19 test rates top 25% in some U.S. Midwest states

September 28, 2020

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By Lisa Shumaker

(Reuters) – The number of tests coming back positive for COVID-19 is topping 25% in several states in the U.S. Midwest as cases and hospitalizations also surge in the region, according to a Reuters analysis.

North Dakota’s positive test rate has averaged 30% over the past seven days compared with 6% the prior week. The positivity rate has risen to 26% in South Dakota, up from 17% the previous week, according to the analysis using testing data from The COVID Tracking Project.

Minnesota and Montana are averaging 7% of tests coming back positive, but Montana’s positivity rate rose on Sunday to 20%, according to the analysis.

The World Health Organization considers rates above 5% concerning because it suggests there are more cases in the community that have not yet been uncovered.

Several states such as New York, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine have positive test rates of less